l
Page 4 • Thursday, September 30, 1999
A
GGIELIFE
-
ie Jttaliou
George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm made into TNT original movie by W.C. Fit
LUGGALA, Ireland (AP) — The
actor-comedian W. C. Fields fa
mously advised against working
with children or animals, so he
clearly would have balked at a film
set without actors.
And yet that was the situation
one rainswept day last fall on the
set of “Animal Farm,” the $22 mil
lion TNT Original movie airing Sun
day at 8 p.m.
Halfway through the autumn
shoot, the animals took over. As
in the book, so it was on set
where the day’s stars included
the donkey portraying Benjamin
and the gray mare playing Mollie,
not to mention a potentially
scene-stealing border collie
named Spice in the pivotal dog’s
role of Jessie.
“There are no Winnebagos, no
makeup and hair, no costumes, no
perks, nothing,” Robert Halmi Sr.
said, the film’s executive produc
er, explaining the differences be
tween this shoot and just about
any other in the veteran producer’s
long career.
For one thing, Halmi had to
build the entire location, creating
a little town — complete with elec
tricity and phone lines — on a frac
tion of the 2,000-acre Guinness
Estate in a grassy dip amid the
Wicklow Mountains.
Then there was the film itself, a
Hallmark Entertainment adaptation
intent on honoring its source, as be
fits a producer who says bluntly of
the venture, “This is it. I’ll be happy
if I don’t do anything else in my life.
The goal is George Orwell, with
satiric sting intact.
'There are no Win
nebagos, no make
up, no costumes,
no perks, nothing/
— Robert Halmi Sr.
Executive producer
“In America, this is probably
over the heads'of most people,”
conceded Halmi, who was 21 and
living under Communist rule in his
native Hungary in 1945 when Or
well’s portrait of an animal upris
ing as a parable for Stalinism was
first published.
More than 50 years later, he is
using his clout as an Emmy-winning
producer to bring it to the screen.
“For me, the most important thing
— almost religiously — has been
to do this book,” Halmi said.
What he didn’t want, he added,
“was a Disney-esque adaptation or
a cartoon. That would be Holly
wood, and I’m anti-establishment."
"Animal Farm” did inspire a
British cartoon feature in 1954
that radically softened Orwell’s
ending, and Halmi admits that
even his live-action version leaves
open an un-Orwellian door to
hope. "There are always sur
vivors" reads a key line at the end
of the film.
Other versions of the same fa
ble include an acclaimed, much-
traveled stage version, directed by
Sir Peter Hall, that began at Lon
don’s National Theater in 1984. A
separate youth theater production
for 24 actors ages 11 to 14 will run
in Leicester in the English Midlands
in late October.
Wherever it is seen, this is still
the story of Napoleon, the nostril-
flaring pig who participates in an
insurrection on Manor Farm —
soon renamed the Animal Farm of
the title — only to end up grandly
sipping whiskey with the same
abusive landowners whom the an
imals displaced.
Napoleon's excesses mirror
those of man at his most beast
ly, as Orwell paints a ruthless pic-
People will do crazy
things to WIN
000!
B
feX
.itj.
; iii mm i
C Hi'. 4 1
■-yr,. - w
.|h
j m 'J
m
■
i©' M,: 3!
j •
Uv.-' -Vv*J
You can just go to
www.1800C0LLECT.com
1-800-C0LLECT
Save a Buck or Two.
Savings vs. dialing “0” with AT&T.
No purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents. Void where prohibited. For Official Rules, go to www.win25000.1800COLLECT.com
or send a SASE to: Win $25,000 Rules, RO. Box 5086, Blair, NE 68009-5086. Sweepstakes ends 10/15/99.
ture of totalitarianis
for all time.
The film marrieslii
animatronics — the
tesy of Jim Henson's
Shop in London —ata
puter-generated effei
tended to bring the
habitants to nearly
(Think Babe but more
well as technicallyaAs
"If it's walking,it’s
imal; if it’s static andtah
imatronic,” visual effi
sor Angus Bickerton
Postlethwaite plays
owner of Manor Farm,
Stewart, Ian Holm
mond supplying the
opportunistic Napoleon
kick Squealer and
capee Jessie, respecft
PEOPLE IN THEK
Netanyahu S|
across the it
TAMPA, la. (AP)-
Prime Minister Benjamin
talked about a need for
economically stable Isn
opened a U.S. publics#
expected to net him ala
come.
More than 10,000
attend a conference Tues
Netanyahu, former Presi
country singer Naomi Ju
ers gave motivational s
touching on everything
burn body fat to howtos
business.
Shai Bazak, a si
said it was Netanyahus fin
appearances planned on
circuit. He earned $60,
30-minute speech, Israel
Aharonot newspaper report!
Netanyahu, who lost his
tion bid in May, told the era
were advantages to being
more time with-amily, more]
and “you get tevadabout
er guy’s problem a chap
enenc
so we
ords so
t also a
Harding tOT^
professional
(AP>
PORTLAND, Ore,
Harding, who became a
figure skating world after
her involvement in the II
bashing of rival Nancy Kei
make her professional 4
month at the Pro Skating
onships.
Harding received a life
from the U.S. Figure Skat
ciation, she can skate pro'
ly only in nonsanctionede
the championships Oct
Huntington, W.Va.
The event is for skaters
for Olympic competition.
“I know I’ve made some
takes in my life, but I’ve
from them and won't m
mistakes again. I paidm 1
Harding, 28, said in Wed
New York Times. “If peopd
know me they will knowl’i
person with a good heart.
Harding’s manager,
Rosenberg, told The Or
"She’s training well. She's
her jumps. Her costumes
ty. She’s ready.”
asj
Moore diagnos
with brain disci
EAST ORANGE, NJ. (API
ley Moore is beginningtoj
sion problems as an
generative brain disordef]
had for several years |
his doctors said yesterdsi l
Moore, 64, was diagnos]
eral months ago with |
supranuclear palsy, a rareff
related to Parkinson's
said Dr. Thomas Galskl'i
been working with l\
Kessler Institute.
“He’s in the very earlys‘|
this disease, but visionP^]
have started to creep i
said. He said Moore wasd
ing physical and speech^
Moore, known for
movie Arthur, said in as$|
Wednesday: “I understand-1
person in 100,000 suffe [i J
this disease, and I ami
that there are 100,0
union, the Screen ActorsGt
are working every day. I
fore, it is in some way cops 1 !
of me that I have taken on
ease for myself, thus protetfjl
remaining 99,999 SAGm e! ]
from this fate.”